Fri 25th Dec 09, 2am

Christmas Day is upon us in the Shakey Isles already, and unfortunately I rather foolishly decided to have a big bowl of nachos last night.  Big mistake, as my stomach is now churning like a good 'un  :-(

Here are some excellent Christmas lights to try and get me in the spirit ...

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Sun 20th Dec 09, 7.45pm

A fun little children's song getting regular play on Kiwi radio (which says a lot!).

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Sun 20th Dec 09, 7.30pm

Me and Wor Lass have just spent the whole weekend Spring cleaning the house, and we're completely shattered.  It's amazing how you can ignore what's right in front of your face.  The window sills, skirting boards, wooden floors and rugs were all dirty and dusty, and we've spent hours wiping down and disinfecting every surface in the house.  The place looks and feels sooo much better, but at the cost of a relaxing weekend.  Good job it's a short week coming up!

The other issue we've had is an uninvited visitor.  We've had a mouse living under the fridge for a week now, and we're having no luck getting rid of it.  It ran right in front of Wor Lass last Saturday night and she gave out a HUGE scream!

We've been obsessed with it all week, leaving a dusting of flour around the fridge to track its nocturnal sojourns and setting humane mousetraps.  They are plastic tunnels with an incline at the far end, loaded with bait; as the mouse reaches the bait the trap tilts, closing the door behind it.   Clever in theory, useless in practice.  I've bought "proper" snapping traps, but hate the idea of killing the poor thing.  Total hypocrisy considering I have no qualms over tucking into a sirloin steak or roast chicken.

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Fri 18th Dec 09, 4.30pm

Another institution comes to an end today as Sir Terry Wogan steps down from the Radio 2 Breakfast Show after ... well, forever! 

He's never been "cool", but for us young 'uns that can't stand that bloated, boorish blowhard Chris Moyles he's long been a guilty pleasure, easing the pain of rush hour with his wit and laconic charm.   I like Chris Evans and think he'll do well -- now he's lost the megalomania that overtook him a few years back -- but I know the Oldies don't, and will be on the lookout for a new station.  (I bet you end up at Radio 4, Dad!)

By contrast Kiwi radio is amateurish rubbish, a constant stream of home-made adverts interrupted by bland DJs, dead air or if you're lucky the occasional song.  BBC iPlayer has been a blessing: you can plant a foot on home soil from anywhere, a virtual Union Jack showing the World we can still excel at something.

Thank you, Sir Terry, you'll be missed - even in New Zealand!

(Picture of farewell cake taken from the Wake Up To Wogan page on the BBC website)

Bye=bye-sir-terry

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Sun 6th Dec 09, 6.30pm

In line with mine and The Boy Genius' current heavy Simpsons consumption, here's a fun remix of one of the best episodes ever.  Stupid sexy Flanders!

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Sun 6th Dec 09, 5.30pm

I have been mostly :-

• having a lovely birthday - thanks to the family for the cards and pressies!
  
• rejoicing now that Wor Lass has a job again!  After a 2 year career break she's heading back to work on Tuesday, initially a part time contract but hopefully leading on to something more permanent.  It's on a major Government-funded construction project, working on The Terrace so we can meet up for lunch.
• sad that The Boy Genius has finished work and is heading back to the UK on Monday night.  He's been a massive help at work progressing internal projects while I've been distracted with client work, and his big brain will be sorely missed.  The house will also seem empty without him.  The good news is he's planning to return to Nu Zild and work in January.
  
• reading Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird - so far it's interesting, but not life-changing like Apples promised!
• finishing the Christmas shopping.  Setting a $100 total spend on presents has stopped us buying crap.
• feeling sorry for Jimmy Bullard, injured yet again - poor feller has the worst luck (and dodgy knees).
• loving the latest Doctor Who episode "The Waters of Mars", but not sure about Red Dwarf's latest, dangerously close to collapsing under the weight of postmodernism.
  

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Sun 6th Dec 09, 5.30pm

We splashed out on a Wii Fit Plus recently, to see if Wor Lass and I can shed a few pounds without having to resort to a gym.  It's certainly fun to play, and Wor Lass is already proficient at the yoga poses, though we've not really lost any weight as yet.

It also had the unfortunate side effect of dislodging a kidney stone, for which I spent a boring and uncomfortable 7 hours in A&E waiting to be told what I could have Googled in 5 minutes.  So at least I wasn't just being a wuss the previous week.

Anyway, things are fine now and we're back to the fitness regime.  BTW I've discovered I'm a natural majorette (100% on my first game) and a pretty competent chicken.

I thought I'd share a few of the ridiculous costumes the Wii Fit games put your Wii Mii avatar into ...

SDC10067

SDC10068

SDC10074

SDC10065

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Mon 30th Nov 09, 3.30am

Had a great birthday - nice presents, a drive in the sunshine, lovely meal at my favourite restaurant, then back home to watch Hull City earn a useful away point to Manchestah "Bags-a-moneh" Citeh.  Unfortunately older doesn't equal wiser and the huge slice of Wor Lass' excellent chocolate cake I scoffed before bed means I'm wide awake at 3am with a wicked sugar rush.  Arse.

Anyways, had to post this great picture -- lifted from the Amber Nectar website -- of Jimmy Bullard's goal celebration mocking last season's on-pitch half time team talk.  Bet that makes it onto Soccer AM next weekend!  Nice way to mock the media's obsession with it and its "significance in Hull's slide in the latter half of last season".   It's great to be able to watch my team from way over here in Nu Zilland, but the terribly biased commentaries provided by British Sky Television are really getting on my nerves, constantly painting us as failures and quoting statistics - the irritating Brummie they had on the Everton match nearly made me reach for the mute button.

Good news that Phil Brown's stock has risen sharply after gazing over the edge of unemployment, though they need to grab points quickly before the nightmare fixtures ahead in December and January ....

Bestcelebration

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Sat 28th Nov 09, 3.20pm

Just seen the first pics of the cast for the new A-Team remake, which I'm both excited and trepidacious about.  

Sharlto Copley from District 9 is a great choice for Murdock, and Liam Neeson as Hannibal is very good, but I'm not sure you can top Mr T (suckas).  Dirk Benedict was one of my first heroes -- I still can't bring myself to watch the new Battlestar Galactica with a female Starbuck -- and unless they're careful to get someone to play the role with tongue firmly in cheek then Faceman could turn into a lecherous creep.

Should be in cinemas Summer of 2010.

All-new-A-Team

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Fri 27th Nov 09, 7pm

1.  New Zealand tops Denmark as World's Least Corrupt Country

New Zealand has topped a poll rating 180 countries on corruption, scoring an impressive 9.4 out of 10 to knock Denmark off the top spot.  Story here.  (Britain came in 17th by the way)

2.   Few Drivers Do the Right Thing

An AA survey has found that over 90% of kiwi drivers don't leave their details after hitting a parked car.  The survey found that nearly three quarters of kiwis had returned to find their car damaged, yet of the 3,800 drivers surveyed less than 10% of offenders had left a note.

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